Miscommunications
by EverTheDreamer
Summary: Minerva McGonagall is in love and everyone knows who with. Semi surprise ending, but not if you really pay attention. LESBIAN THOUGHT PATTERNS
1. Everyone Knows

"Everyone knows," Xiomara Hooch declared nonchalantly as she plopped onto the arm of the armchair Minerva McGonagall was seated in.

"Pardon?" Minerva asked, both confused and concerned. "Everyone knows what?"

"That you're in love!" Poppy Pomfrey answered, taking her cues from Xiomara.

"And who with!" Ponoma Sprout chimed, smiling.

Minerva's eyes widened. This was not how she had pictured their weekly tea. "Excuse me?" she blushed a deep scarlet, oddly befitting her house colors. "I haven't the foggiest of what you three are prattling on about."

"Min, dear," Xiomara laughed, "You don't hide it well." Minerva's eyes flickered to look at the flying instructor whose seat gave her an unfamiliar height advantage. Xiomara gently elbowed Minerva in the shoulder. "Honestly, Min, did you think we wouldn't notice?"

"We are your closest friends, after all!" Poppy said.

"Besides, it's cute!" Ponoma squealed, clapping gleefully.

"Well," Minerva began stiffly in a tone she typically reserved on for her unruliest students, "I believe that is the end of our weekly tea hour." She stood and cleared her throat in a way that left no room to argue.

"Do you think we should have been more subtle?" Ponoma asked as she and Poppy stood and left. Poppy merely answered with a polite "Shush."

"Minerva, sit down," Xiomara demanded.

Minerva glared, "Do not order me around like a child, Xiomara."

"Please? I want to talk to you."

"Minerva sighed and sat down as far away as possible.

Xiomara shook her head at Minerva's stubbornness and walked to her, taking both of her friend's hands into her own lap. "Look at me. I want you to be happy."

Minerva began blushing and started to look away. "Why do you care?" she asked the other woman impatiently.

"Minerva!" Xiomara gasped, deeply hurt. "I care because you are my dearest friend and the most important person in my life! Now, will you please just talk to me?"

Minerva nodded. "It's just that… We've been friends for so long. I was afraid that revealing my feelings would ruin all of that. And I care far too much to risk that."

"Min, feelings such as those are nothing to be ashamed of! At our age, feeling anything like love is a big deal. Our hearts are old and have already withstood so much pain… If you feel these things, you shouldn't hide it and I can't comprehend why you would. You owe it to yourself to try. You deserve happiness, Min."

Minerva stared back, tears filling her eyes, "You're right."

Xiomara stood and kissed Minerva's forehead. "Get some sleep, my friend." With that, she briskly strode out of Minerva's chambers.

"_Why? Why am I pushing her into the arms of another?_" Xiomara asked herself. "_Why can't I tell her how I feel? … I know why… I know it's not me that she loves. Albus will be good to her._"

Minerva, meanwhile, sat in the same spot a full quarter of an hour before standing and adopting her cat form and scurrying to Albus Dumbledore's quarters.

"Albus?" she whispered upon her arrival and transformation back into herself. "Albus? Are you decent?"

"Minerva? Is that you, Minerva dear?" Albus asked, popping his head around the door. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Well, you know how late the girls and I have our weekly teas," she answered.

"Yes," he nodded as he yawned, "but that's not what I asked, is it? I asked why you were here."

Minerva shrugged. "I shouldn't have come… It is rather late. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning." She forced a yawn and turned on her heel.

"Minerva…" Albus called. She stopped, knowing that tone from when she had been a student. "Come here."

"Well," she began, turning around and walking to him, "at the weekly tea, Xiomara and the girls informed me that…"

"Yes?"

Minerva blushed again. "Xiomara said that everyone knew I was in love and with whom."

"And?" Albus prompted.

"And I need your guidance, your support."

"Well, I've already given you my advice. I told you when I first noticed. My advice remains the same: Go after the one you love. I'm sure your feelings will be reciprocated," Albus said, his eyes twinkling.

Minerva smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, my dear friend, I shall try." She reverted to her cat form and snuck away.


	2. Planning a Party

"A little higher on the left."

"Xiomara, for the twelfth time, I'm not tall enough!" Ponoma Sprout answered huffily as she jumped and tried yet again to hang the banner.

Xiomara impatiently swung her leg over her broom and flew to Ponoma. "You're hopeless," she sighed teasingly.

"You don't have to bite my head off!" Ponoma snapped.

"Sorry, I just want everything to be perfect." Xiomara took the banner and flew to the proper height. "Does it look even?"

"It sure does!" Poppy Pomfrey called cheerily. "Now, come get the mistletoe."

"I hope this works!" Ponoma laughed as Xiomara hung several sprigs of the plant.

"It has to! Something has to get the two of them together!" Poppy said, laughing with Ponoma.

Xiomara smiled weakly from her perch on the broom, "Yeah, something."

"What else can we arrange?" Ponoma asked quizzically. "I mean, she could just avoid the mistletoe all night, and knowing her, she will."

"Well, I' certain he'll ask her to dance, he always does," Poppy answered.

"Precisely! He always does. They're still not together, though, are they?" Xiomara rebutted. "She needs to make the first move."

"Well," Ponoma said, trying to think.

"We could single her out!" Xiomara interjected.

"What do you mean?" Poppy asked.

"I mean we could say," Xiomara used a fake voice that sounded very much like a Muggle Game Show Host to simulate the announcer, "'And now, Ladies' Choice! If you'll start us off, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall?'"

"she'll kill us!" Poppy laughed, only half-kidding.

Xiomara smiled wickedly. "_I'll be dying inside anyway_," she thought.

"Do you think the band will do that?" Ponoma asked.

"We're paying them," Xiomara shrugged. "I'm sure they'll do whatever we ask.

"But, would she follow through?" Poppy asked.

"Well, as the Deputy Headmistress, she's morally obligated to, isn't she?" Xiomara asked.

"I suppose…" Poppy trailed off.

"Then it's settled!" Xiomara began. "Oh!" she added as an afterthought. "Have Flitwick charm a mistletoe to follow her around. That way she can't avoid it!" Xiomara finished with slightly forced cheerfulness.

Poppy and Ponoma giggled cheerfully and finished decorating. They were delighted to be playing a role that would lead to Minerva's happiness.

"_Now,_" Poppy reminded herself mentally, "_if I can just figure out what's wrong with Xiomara…_"


	3. May I have this dance?

Minerva McGonagall frowned as she sat along the wall. The music was too loud, her friends were too drunk, and a charm had gone awry with one of the mistletoes and she was now being followed.

"I had intended to make my move tonight," Minerva lied to herself in barely audible whisper. In her heart she honestly doubted that she was willing to risk her friendship despite anyone's words.

"Aww, Min," Xiomara Hooch said, sitting down next to her. "Buck up!" She took another sip of her rather large fire whiskey before offering it to Minerva, who politely declined.

"I'm getting tired," Minerva said, forcing a yawn.

Xiomara's eyes widened. "_No! Not yet! She can't leave yet!_" Xiomara mentally shouted.

"I think I'll retire for the eve--"

"No!" Xiomara interrupted. "Not yet. I haven't given you your gift yet! Stay a while longer?" she pleaded.

"Oh, all right," Minerva sighed. "But just another hour!"

Xiomara smiled and couldn't help herself. She kissed Minerva full on the mouth. "That's all I'll need.!" Minerva was still reeling from the kiss. "Oh… Mistletoe, you know!" Xiomara got up and all but ran to the band.

"What was that?" Minerva whispered, raising her fingers to her lips. "Surely, Xiomara doesn't… She's not… No." She promptly dismissed the thought.

Or, at lest, she tried to.

"We're going to take a fifteen minute break, right after this song," the conductor announced. "But first, Ladies' Choice. Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, if you'll start us off?"

Minerva looked up, shocked. "Pardon?"

"It's Ladies' Choice, Minerva," Poppy Pomfrey began, sitting down next to her friend.

"And you're to start the asking," Ponoma Sprout finished, pointing across the practically empty dance floor to where Albus Dumbledore sat talking to a smiling Xiomara Hooch.

Poppy pushed Ponoma's arm down. "Subtle!" she hissed.

Minerva McGonagall took a deep breath and stood "I will ask," she told herself.

"Go for it!" Ponoma whispered.

Minerva began her trek across the dance floor.

"It's Ladies Choice," she said as she reached the pair. "I was wondering if…" Minerva stopped breathed deeply again. "May I have this dance?"

Xiomara nodded encouragingly, proud of her best friend, as she looked from Minerva to Dumbledore. She waited to hear Dumbledore's expected answer and was surprised to have her own hand grabbed.

"I'm awfully sorry, Min," Xiomara said sadly, thinking Minerva had panicked when Albus hadn't answered.

"For what?" Minerva asked, stopping in the middle of the dance floor and turning to Xiomara.

Minerva took Xiomara's hand and placed it around her own lower back before putting her own arm around Xiomara's upper back and taking Xiomara's other hand.

"Wait? What's going on?" Xiomara asked, honestly confused as Minerva led them in a waltz.

"Well, right now, I'm leading. But, that's mostly because you weren't moving," Minerva answered.

"But… I thought…" Xiomara began, looking back at Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling brightly.

Minerva tutted, "Ladies' Choice and I chose you. I'll always choose you."

"But what about Dumbledore?" Xiomara asked, barely believing her luck.

"Albus? And me? Never! I'm more of a Quidditch gal kind of gal," she smiled.

"But, I don't understand," Xiomara argued.

Minerva shushed her, covering Xiomara's lips with one of her fingers. "You don't have to. Just do as you've told me countless times: Trust your emotions. What are they telling you?"

"They're telling me to shut up and kiss you since I've wanted to for so long," Xiomara answered, slowing their pace.

"Well? Are you going to lis--"

Xiomara stopped dancing and closed the gap between them as she kissed Minerva, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"Merry Christmas, Minerva."

Minerva moved closer, brushing her lips against Xiomara's. "Merry Christmas," she replied before kissing Xiomara.

"So, I suppose you were all wrong, then? Judging from your surprise, everyone really didn't know who it was that I'm in love with?"

"No," Xiomara answered truthfully. "Clearly, we all thought it was Dumbledore."

"Well, I always was the bright one, wasn't I? I'm not surprised you were all clueless," Minerva teased.

"Yu are the bright one," Xiomara nodded. "Yet, you still hadn't known that I have always been in love with you. What does that say?"

"It says that I'm blind," Minerva laughed. "But isn't that how it's supposed to be? Isn't that how the saying goes?"

"What?" Xiomara asked, confused again.

"Love is blind."


End file.
